2011 ended on a sad note. The latest incarnation of the Ohio Paranormal Investigation Network was disbanded due to a number of decisions. One of these deciding factors was based on the direction of the group seemingly going backwards from what I had hoped around 16 years prior. I had come to the realization that much of the foundation I had put in place had been slowly and silently eroded and I was left standing in two places at the same time. One foot was firmly planted in my beliefs; paranormal investigators were doing most of their things wrong and that while science alone isn’t the only answer there needs to be many changes in this field in order for it to be taken seriously or is able to convert...

"…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". –Sherlock Holmes “The Sign of Four” (and variations in several other books)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes was definitely ahead of his time when it came to science. His methods predated those used in real forensic science and his way of solving crimes was based on simple logic and observation. Ironically, this quote is typically used to qualify a paranormal group as "scientific" as well as to “verify” a photo, video, or personal event as “paranormal” since no definitive explanation was immediately found, however this search may not include...

I sit here at my hotel room at the Hawthorn in Dayton, Ohio late in the evening on Saturday, August 21st. Today I was a speaker at the second annual Ohio Paranormal Convention here in Dayton alongside John Sabol, the Ghost Excavator and many time guest of the ParaNexus Universe. I noticed a common theme this year at the convention that was touched by only a few in attendance last year; the culture of our field and its influence by the television shows and the internet.

In John's half of our joint presentation he made several comments about how our field has been negatively influenced by television and how our field lacks true direction by performing horizontal investigations instead of connecting with hauntings/apparitions through their culture (instead of through our 21st century technology). I also made many statements that our field was going in circles with the blind leading the blind. Two television shows were represented by guests in attendance at the convention;...

We conducted our first formal investigation of Farnam Manor in Richfield, Ohio on March 6, 2010. Our hopes were high as we had collected some great EVPs while just touring the building a couple of weeks prior. We had collected numerous personal stories from the owners, Tim and Kathy, and were excited to investigate this inviting old building in detail. Our focus was also to collect investigation evidence for our presentation at the Farnam Manor Spirit Tour, which was a fundraiser for the Farnam Foundation to help raise some money and awareness for this historical building.

The investigation began slowly as we had to wait for the owners to get us into the building as they had thought we would be there on a different day. We ended up conducting our team meeting in our Equipment Manager's truck...

I had originally posted this article on my Paranormal News Insider blog on November of 2009, but I wanted to re-post it here to a more specific audience. I may do the same with some other articles I have posted there as well as some future articles since there is a concentration of critical thinking paranormal investigators here.

I had an interesting conversation with a gentleman who is part of a fairly well known location that is a hub for paranormal investigators and ghost hunters during a speaking engagement at a library in Grafton, Ohio last October. We were discussing plans on my group possibly coming out to the location to investigate particular aspects of the environment (humidity and other factors) during the colder months of the year when the conversation shifted toward something that I had often thought of; are ghost hunting and paranormal investigation groups ruining...